Cry of the Dragon
by Kiddie Ray
Summary: When Leonidas,Thirrin, and Cressida are told of a nation of evil on the rise they embark on a journey to stop The Darkness from taking over, while a new warlock must decide where his allegiance lie. PLEASE Read and Review!
1. Yuletide

Cressida was dressed in her favorite (and Leonidas's for that matter) green dress. It had been Yuletide and as Queen she needed to look nice. Ever since she was crowned Queen she brought countries to her knees with knowledge, wisdom, and compassion, as had her father had said before he died.

Things had deeply changed since Cressida's marriage. Cressida had become Queen of Icemark and Polypontus. Thirrin had a mansion made for her and Titus. Sharley as well as Mekhmet were now 19 and had girlfriends from the Desert Kingdom. Eodred and Howler found their mates as well. The biggest change was that the Great Hall had been remodeled so that the Polypontians could fit in.

Thirrin had visited from her mansion in a few clicks from Frostmarris. Sharley, Mehkmet, Kirimin, and Im-Pious had visited from their latest journey to visit Ketshaka III Queen of Lusuland. Kirimin was now finely educated with all languages of the North and South.

All of the boys' girlfriends were invited the Yuletide party which had almost brought a tear to Thirrin's eyes. Her _boys _were growing up! But it wasn't the time to reminisce, because Titus wanted to see the Great Tree being decorated.

Titus had given Thirrin a reason to live. The little boy was so filled with energy that she was running around with him non-stop. Not only that but Titus taken to her as if she was his real mother.

The celebration was about to begin and Leonidas greeting his father and other friends he had made in his time in the army. When he was done he made his way to where Thirrin and Titus sat.

"Thirrin and Titus how are you?" Leonidas said with a great smile.

"Great Uncle Leo." Titus said with gleaming smile.

"I'm fine Leonidas just a little tired is all." Thirrin said.

Cressida joined Leonidas and hugged her mother and nephew. Leonidas continued the greetings as Cressida caught up with her mother. A weird feeling had crept on him. Ever since Oskan's death he'd been having dreams. Each ended with a dragon reciting a strange poem.

_Knowledge, power, wisdom, fame,_

_All of it ends the same,_

_Death, life, dark, light,_

_Face the Goddesses' might,_

_Where the enemy's arms shall lie,_

_That is where you shall hear the dragon cry!_

He was sure it was a message from the Goddess or Oskan. But for now he decided to keep it to himself. Anything Magical he decided to keep to himself. He sat down and sipped some wine. But as soon as he put down the glass he fell into a deep trance.


	2. The Trance

Leonidas awoke in a strange place. He seemed to be in a dark forest, but it wasn't like Icemark's Great Forest. The trees were different. He realized where he was. He was in of Oskan's deep trances!

"Leonidas how are?" Oskan said warmly. "It has been while talked to you. Did you get my messages?"

Leonidas was puzzled. "What messages?" Leonidas asked.

"The dreams of dragons of course." Oskan said. "You didn't think those were just dreams did you?"

"Of course not." Leonidas said. "But it's not as easy to discuss anything I the subject of magic. If I were to say anything about you Cressida, Thirrin, Sharley, or Eodred would probably start whimpering. And I don't want that on my conscience. So what have you pulled me in a trance for?"

"I've been monitoring the world for quite some time. And there seems to be some strange activity that Icemark and her allies might find interesting. But what you need to focus on one thing."

Leonidas found himself zooming backwards through time. He then stopped in the midst of a battle. Bolts of lightning rained from the sky, as hawks were shot down. Plasma was being thrown and fire was going back and forth across the plains. The trees were walking and falling all over the warlocks and witches. People were turning into phoenixes, and trolls, and vipers.

"What is this?" Leonidas asked with a horrified look on his face.

"This is the battle of Zimbuie, a land once inhabited by Cronus worshipers, dark sorcerers and sorceresses, and dark warriors." Oskan said. "In a time warlocks and witches flourished and most of the northern continents were occupied by these warlocks and witches. Soon more than half of the magical population turned to Cronus for guidance and decided it was to leave. From the middle of the ocean they raised a land where they could take refuge. They took advantage of this and practiced rituals causing the world to go in turmoil. What you're seeing right now is the warlocks and witches of light fighting back."

The scene then stopped and they fast forwarded to warlocks standing. One of them was on the ground in the form of a corpse. The other let out a wicked laugh. It was then clear who had one. Just as the sorcerer turned around the ground started shake and the corpse on the ground started to levitate. His skin became scales. He grew 12 ft and grew a red beard. He resembled the dragon in Leonidas's dreams. He then flew through spewing out fire destroying everything. His tail twisted and he rammed himself into the ground. The island started to submerge! As the island submerged into the water the dragon coiled up into a ball above the island as other dragons joined him.

"A few months ago trees started to grow these trees were. So you must take 3 ships worth of soldiers to Zimbuie."

"But where is….." But before he could finish his sentence Oskan waved his hand and all of the coordinates went to Leonidas' head.


	3. The Journey

Leonidas woke up to find that Cressida was by him.

"How is my dad?" Cressida said with a tear rolling her cheek.

"He's fine Cressida." Leonidas said with his hand on her shoulder. "How long have been out?"

"30 minutes exactly" Cressida said. "I had to give the opening speech."

"I'm leaving in a week to go to an island that has been marooned for a good 900 years." Leonidas said.  
Cressida sat up. In the last year Icemark had been a war-free zone where politics was the main matter. In Cressida's 1st month on the throne she ended sea wide raids by pirates and re-made a relationship between Polypontus and its former colonies, and ended the dispute between Grinelda Blood-Tooth of the Upkik Wolves and the soldiers of the Polypontus. But it still didn't feel as rewarding as winning a war like her mother did, three times. She knew where this adventure was going and decided it was time to take pre-cautions.

The rest of the night was filled with laughter and eating. As the night closed Thirrin confronted Leonidas.

"I saw what happened." Thirrin said with tears rolling down her eyes. "How is Oskan, and will he be coming back."

Leonidas saw the sheer pain and sadness in Thirrin's eyes. Leonidas didn't want to bring up Oskan. Thirrin had been crushed for over a year now. Tharaman and Grishmak had been trying to get her to cheer up but simply hadn't worked. Titus had been the only one who could get a decent laugh from Thirrin.  
"Well, no actually, but when he placed the coordinates to my next destination in my head, I saw a young warlock in Oskan's cave. I have a feeling that they'll be important to this upcoming fiasco."  
"Then I'll go there tomorrow."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

After a week Leonidas was ready to leave. Leonidas insisted that Cressida stay which was truly an achievement worth recognizing. Tharaman, Grishmak, Sharley and Mekhmet were going with Leonidas as well as 80 Polypontus-Icemark soldiers 10 snow leopards, and 15 Wolf-Folk.

The first ship on the right was called the _Redrought _filled with Icemark veterans. The left ship was called _The_ _Alliance _filled with soldiers of all sorts. The center ship was called the _Kings Row, _a ship filled with the kings and princesand personalfriends

The journey had started without a hitch. The weather was perfect, the waves were dead and the food was prepared to Grishmak's and Tharaman's likings. Sharley, Mekhmet, and Leonidas had been chatting about random stuff and playing cards.  
As the trip got farther the bad omens started to kick in. For three days straight it rained, the waves started crash against the ships, and 2 soldiers had become sick.

At last the rain had stopped and the waves had stopped crashing.

"It feels good to come up to breathe the fresh air without getting soaked." Tharaman said in his usual booming voice.

"Agreed, let's eat in this beautiful weather." Grishmak said grinning.  
As a ship chamberlain hurried downstairs to make the preparations a loud growling sound began to surface.  
"Tharaman please tell me that was your stomach." Leonidas said nervously.  
"Actually it is, but my stomach isn't that loud." Tharaman said.

On cue a large serpent shot of the water crushing _The Alliance_. Immediately Leonidas ran down to his cabin, as the soldiers went into action. The water serpent roared with ferocity causing creatures resembling hounds with gills and three sets of teeth. Sharley and Mekhmet were quickly attacked by the sea hounds. Sharley pulled out his scimitar slashing at the hound's throat but 2 other hounds dashed at him. Tharaman and Grishmak latched to the water serpent's neck clawing at the tough skin.

Leonidas came back up with his lucky gold encased musket he had used to capture the wealthiest city of the Southern Farthings. He fired twice at the large serpent _and_ watched as Tharaman and Grishmak jumped off as it fell. But the hounds kept coming. 2 snow leopards had already been wrestled off the ship and the Polypontus-Icemark soldiers were being pinned down. Only the Wolf-Folk seemed to be putting a dent in the hound numbers.

Sharley and Mekhmet were bombarded by the aggressive hounds. Mekhmet plunged his scimitar into the skull of one the hounds as another ripped off a piece of his shirt. Sharley was on the edge of the ship. His bad leg had gotten in the way causing him to have to retreat. In desperation, Leonidas let out another round on the viscous hounds and used his musket as a bat to make it downstairs. He came back up with a slab of meat. Instantly the chaos of battle stopped as the hounds paid attention only to the slab of meet.

"Don't do it lad, we could fight." Grishmak shouted.

But Leonidas had already tossed the slab of meat overboard and watched the hounds jump over board after the meat.

Sighs of relief were heard over in the remaining ships. Everyone but Grishmak and Tharaman were relieved. Leonidas looked to his left to find the ship destroyed and soldiers, snow leopards, and Wolf-Folk swimming back to the ships.

___________________________________________________________________________________

After a few hours of recovering from the attack, Leonidas was ready for the full report. Leonidas' friend Ragmon went down to the cabin to give the report.

"Ragmon, please sit down." Leonidas said pointing to a chair on the other side of the room. "Give me the all the details."  
"Well for one 8 soldiers are missing from the marooned _Alliance._ 4 soldiers are wounded and 1 soldier is dead."

Leonidas took in the information. The journey had been hard and he'd longed for the comforts of home. But Oskan's trance convinced him that he needed to go to the island.

"Get me Prince Charlemagne and Prince Mekhmet." Leonidas said. Immediately Ragmon ran up the steps to fetch Sharley and Mekhmet.

The two came up with their wounds patched up.

"Sharley, Mekhmet how severe are your wounds." Leonidas said.  
"Not bad at all just scratches and bruises." Sharley said.  
"Yeah we should be able to make to island without a problem." Mekhmet said.  
"See that's you two will be leading a search party and when you two are done report back to Cressida."

The disappointments in their eyes were obvious.  
"You have to be kidding Leo!" Mekhmet said.  
"Yeah we didn't just risk our lives to not even set foot on the island!" Sharley said.  
"You need to." Leonidas said throwing his hands up in the air."We can't have the wounded slowing us down on an island with inhabitants we don't even know about. And you know I'm right!"  
"All right we'll go." Sharley said.  
"Speak for yourself I'm in this to the end." Mekhmet said.  
"Come on Mekhmet, don't you want to see Shelia again?" Sharley asked with a sly grin on his face.  
"On second thought I'll come to." Mekhmet said quickly.

After Sharley and Mekhmet left, Leonidas went fishing. After a well cooked dinner Leonidas went up on deck. To his astonishment he saw the island. The giant trees stood majestically in the sunset.

"_Alright Oskan, I'm here." _ Leonidas thought to himself.


	4. The Goddess' Forest Part 1

**A/N: This chapter takes place on the day after Yuletide.**

Thirrin had barely slept. She was so anxious to see what Leonidas had been talking about. The last time she had visited Oskan's cave was the day after his funeral. She remembered seeing odd things which made her believe she was in the Plain of Desolation.

Thirrin walked into the cave armed with her sword and carrying a lantern. As she walked through the caves she noticed the sounds of footsteps.  
"Who's there?" Thirrin shouted.

She quickly regretted speaking out as the fire in her lantern. Followed by small tremors in the cave and whispering. Thirrin stood her ground as the weird things happened. Finally she heard footsteps. She lunged forward with her sword and all chaos broke loose.

"Jeez lady you almost cut off my head!" The teenage girl cried. She had beautiful brown hair and odd black eyes.  
"Who the hell are you people?" Thirrin yelled.  
"We should be asking you that." Said another warlock tall and thin warlock with glasses and brown hair and black eyes exactly the same as the girls.

Thirrin looked at the remaining 4 Adepts who hadn't spoken. There were two more girls whose personalities' were completely. The one on the left was visibly perky. She looked one of the girly girls form the Polypontus colony of Garsco who always smiled and had beauty but no brains. Her brown skin and black hair though dispelled her being from Garsco. She looked like Sharley's girlfriend except she was taller and probably no doubt an Adept. But the odd part was her soulless black eyes identical to the others.

But the one next to her, was a gloomy teenage girl. She had a horrible scowl on and black makeup on. Unlike the girl on the left her hair was all messed up and midnight black. Oskan had told her about this type of Adepts. They were called Gothicas. For some Adepts the choice between good and evil is to overbearing. They choose to be neutral and in the process destroys all sense of emotion and replaces it with a hate for the world. But she was not a full Gothica yet. She was just missing the ceremonial face piercings. Like the others she had soulless black eyes.

But the other two boys stood out in the group. One was tall with blonde hair and built exterior. But the odd thing was his eyes. They were blue! The boy next to him was even odder. His hair was the same jet black hair as Oskan's. In fact he looked almost exactly like Oskan except for the forehead and the eyes. They were honey colored and if you stared deep enough into them it seemed like there was a blazing fire.

"Well answer who are you lady?" Shouted the teen with honey eyes impatiently.  
"You answer first my question first." Thirrin said still analyzing the people before her.  
"Rhana's my name." The brown skinned girl said.  
"William." The kid with glasses said with obvious annoyance in his voice.  
"Phyra." The near-Gothica said rolling her eyes.  
"Mara." The brown haired beauty said.  
"Julius." The blonde haired boy said.  
"Theon." The boy who looked like Oskan said.  
"All right what are you doing in Oskan Witchfather's cave?" Thirrin said no holstering her sword.

Before any of them could answer the floor vanished beneath them.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Thirrin landed in a bed of soft flowers and comfortable pillows. As the others land on on a tough dirt road . Thirrin opened her eyes to her surprise and happiness. The tall figure had jet black hair and a warm smile. Only one man smiled like that. And that was _her_ man.

"Oskan my love it is you!" Thirrin said jumping into Oskan's arms.  
"It's been to long my love." Oskan said sharing a long passionate kiss with Oskan.  
"Aw, that's so romantic!" Rhana said with her head on Julius' shoulder.  
"It's nauseating." Phyra said dryly.  
"Well so are you Phyra but we live with you." Theon joked causing the group to give a little chuckle.

Oskan turned around to face the 6 Adepts causing them to abruptly stop.  
"Well if it isn't the troublemakers of the Plain of Desolation." Oskan said obviously mad at them.  
"What do you mean Oskan?" Thirrin asked.  
"Why don't you explain Theon Witch's Son." Oskan said with a sly look on his face.

Theon looked to the ground in shame.

"We kind of set the Plain of Desolation on fire. And then turned we kind of the Doge into a rat and sent him into a snake pit. But we made them non-venomous!" Theon said with some hope that they would be forgiven.  
"They bit the Doge's leg." Oskan said.  
"So that's why he walks with a limp!" Thirrin said in sudden realization.  
"Now be gone you jokesters!" Oskan said and with a flick of his wrist they were gone.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Oskan and Thirrin walked through the forest of flowers and lakes and trees. It was truly a beautiful place. Who knew the Summer Lands were such a beautiful place? But as they continued she realized this wasn't the Summer Lands. Nor Valhalla. There was singing so beautiful it could make people cry. There were to giants. One seemed female and the other male. They were dressed in leaves and where every they went birds followed. There was a man in the lake on board of kelp. His beard was long and brown. His sea green eyes were mesmerizing and his laughter was booming.

"There is my Grand Nephew!" The man in the water said. "Come Oskan join me!"

Thirrin was now sure they weren't in the Summer Lands.

"Oskan where are we?" Thirrin said now obviously confused.  
"Were in the Forests of the my grandmother." Oskan said. "Were in the forest of the Goddess herself."

**Okay sorry this chapter is so short. I had just completely changed the storyline. Hope you like it!**


End file.
